Guest column/National coverage of case confuses who real villains are

December 29, 2012

Since I was sportscaster at WTOV-TV in the early 1990s, in my career as a commentator and documentary filmmaker I have specialized in stories where the facts indicate that the news media got it wrong....

Comments

Echobravo

Why even use the word villain? There was bad judgement on the students part, poor parenting on the adult part, lack of moral fiber with most of the people making all the noise, and an inability of the school board to even begin on how to deal with the issue. FIRST AND FOREMOST, everybody has given their opinion in one way or another, BUT tell me, HOW MANY HAVE STOPPED AND PRAYED FOR THIS YOUNG GIRL AND HER FAMILY? I continue to say that ALL the area schools should be shut down for a day while PROFESSIONALS come in to conduct SEXUAL HARASSMENT, APPROPRIATE CONDUCT (INCLUDING TEACHER/STUDENT INTERACTION), ETHICS, ETC. This is how you start to deal with what happen while JUSTICE is handling the other. Time for people to grow up and be christians about it and practice what they claim they are..

Prayers4all

Reno Saccoccia's and the school's response was substandard. Here is an example of how a school, with a championship team, should react to student who do not assist a victim assaulted by their teammates:

"Hamline University men's basketball coach Nelson Whitmore has been indefinitely suspended and 14 players face discipline in connection with an player-on-woman assault that allegedly took place in a Spokane, Washington hotel room on New Year's Eve."

One player punched a woman fracturing her face in 3 places and 14 players either saw her attack or saw her unconscious or refused to help her. I am sure these students learned their lesson and will be stronger adults in the future. We can't say the same for our boys in Steubenville.

ThinkAgainPlease

You know this summer, when we heard various Repulicans make strange remarks concerning rape, I just thought it was odd and out of touch. But in reading over your entire column, there is not a single word of sympathy, empathy, outrage, or compassion about the girl who was so violently raped physically, then further debased by these guys rejoicing and laughing and reveling in what they had done to her and posting it online -- excited by the belief that they had KILLED her!! And you think the New York Times, or the hackers are villians?

I'm afraid that women have become too complacent, thinking that our society had advanced or that we are somehow more civilized than the middle east. Your entire concern is for the rapists and their accomplices...that is very frightening to me. Bless Anonymous -- which is a movement -- not a club with a membership list -- for bringing this to light.

PittsburghJen

Your reporting is less than true journalism. What if these bastards were discussing a female that you cared about? This is going national and you should be on the right side of justice. *******jezebel****/5972553/anonymous-leaks-horrifying-video-of-stuebenville-high-schoolers-joking-about-raping-a-teenager-deader-than-trayvon-martin?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow